I have never been to Memphis, There - I admitted it.
So it's only being honest to say that my "sense" of the scariness of parts of Memphis came originally from the movie The Blindside. However - Although in the movie a part of Memphis called "Hurt Village" was portrayed to be as about as safe as downtown Damascus right now it is also true that according to this article three areas in Memphis are among the most dangerous in the USA.
Scarier still - the three worst areas in the USA according to the same article all belong to Detroit!
Now I have been to Soweto. To many white South African's we met in Johannesburg before going, the visit that Mrs Bozo and I made there in 2009 was an act of madness. And let us be honest - many of the amazingly warm and generous black South Africans we were hosted by in the township advised us not to wander the streets around our hotel at night.
My point is this - generally speaking I didn't feel that scared in Soweto - maybe I should have - but I didn't. But both the article linked above - and the movie - gave me a very strong impression that parts of Memphis were arguably far more dangerous than Soweto.
Is it just me that wonders how parts of the richest (and we are led to believe "free-est") nation on earth are scarier than a thrid world township with a history of homicidal racial violence?
In the 20 odd years since the failure of the Soviet experiment (and we have to admit it failed) the west has seen the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer - every year. Every single year.
And, when the banks caused the almightiest financial disaster the world has ever known. That process actually accelerated! We bailed out banks whose balance sheets were destroyed by imprudent investment decisions - and then subsidized the bonuses still being paid to the losers who made those decisions! Except they aren't losers are they?
We are.
They get richer and richer.
No one ever ever ever got arrested for the dodgy dealings surrounding the crash. A crash that caused more harm to the world than the riots of a couple of years back - for which hundreds of people were jailed!
The reason that Memphis - and Detroit - and increasingly parts of my own fair city are becoming more dangerous than Soweto is complex. I admit that. But anyone who doesnt think that the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer doesnt play an enormous part in the process is - well - a bit dim.
Of course if we keep voting for these policies we will have to live with them. We do after all get the government we deserve. But Let us not expect our country to become a nicer place to live.
Unless you are rich of course.
Recent Comments